During the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, there lived a family surnamed Li on the northern slope of Miaoling Village in Nanshangou. Although the old Li family could not be called rich, they lived a relatively comfortable life relying on the stonemason skills passed down from their ancestors. .
The masonry skills of Lao Li's family have been passed down to Li Jin for the fifth generation. Li Jin only had a son when he was nearly 30 years old. His nickname was Shuaner, and his official name was Li Qingxiang. Li Qingxiang has been smart and intelligent since he was a child. In order to pass on the masonry craftsmanship, his father started taking Li Qingxiang around when he was fourteen years old. Whenever his father drew lines with his ruler, Li Qingxiang would always stand by and silently watch the ghosts and ghosts in the world , pondering carefully. Three years later, his father safely handed the painting ruler into his hands.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten years have passed. Li Qingxiang has not only mastered the ancestral stone chisel technique, but also worked hard on carving. At this time, he was already a well-known stonemason within a hundred miles. From the stone lions of the government offices to the grinding wheels and small mills of the common people, he carved everything meticulously and carefully. All the various patterns carved by his hands are exquisite and lifelike. He is honest, honest and warm-hearted. He will generously help any family in the eight villages ten miles away who encounters natural or man-made disasters. Therefore, Li Shijiang from Miaoling Village has an excellent reputation in this area.
One summer day that year, Li Qingxiang and his father were carving a set of flower and plant patterns on the wall inside the gate of a large family in the field. After noon, Li Jin's face turned sallow, foaming at the mouth, and his limbs were twitching. After being unconscious for several days, Li Qingxiang had no choice but to hire a local carriage to escort his father home. One night two months later, his father passed away.
After his father's death, Li Qingxiang stayed at home as a mourner for three years. During this period, there was an endless stream of admiring customers. At the turn of the new year, after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he packed up his carving tools, said goodbye to his mother, wife and children, and went to work alone in "Majia Town" more than 200 miles away from home.
After winter came, Li Qingxiang planned to go home early, but there were several farmers in the town who wanted to make a few rounds of rollers and stone mills, so he didn't say anything. By the time he put the last plate of carved tofu on the stove, it was already the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month.
That night, Li Qingxiang lay on the warm kang excitedly and tossed and turned. For a while, I thought about whether my elderly mother was in good health; for a while, I thought about my wife, the look in her eyes that looked forward to his early and safe return when he was about to go out; and even more, I thought about my father’s cloudy eyes and weakness before he died. The voice was hesitating and gesticulating at him. Li Qingxiang understood what his father wanted to express, which was to let him pass on the stonemasonry skills of the old Li family in his hands. He nodded to his father with tears streaming down his face, and his father closed his eyes with a smile…
The weather in the north, as soon as we enter the twelfth lunar month, is already the season of severe winter. Li Qingxiang was eager to go home at this time, regardless of the high mountains and long distances. Braving the biting cold wind and carrying heavy tools, he walked in a hurry, wishing he could fly into his house with wings.
The next morning, the sky was still clear and clear. After noon, the sky gradually became overcast, and fine snowflakes began to float sparsely. It didn't take long, and the goose-feather-like snow covered the sky. At dusk, the snow on the ground covered the ground. It's already knee deep.
At this moment, the northwest wind was wrapped in snowflakes, like sharp knives whizzing through Li Qingxiang's body. He kept shivering, thinking that he had to find a place to live quickly. If he continued like this, he might be killed. I will freeze to death in this ice and snow. Li Qingxiang raised his head and looked around. There was no one in the silver wilderness. At this time, he was hungry, all his strength seemed to be exhausted, his legs were a little stiff, and the "creeping, creaking" footsteps under his feet were getting slower and slower. He seemed to feel that he had fallen into a trap. In the midst of white terror.
As he walked, he raised his head and vaguely saw a black shadow shaking not far away in front of him. Li Qingxiang suddenly became more energetic and shouted in surprise: "Is there also a big brother in front of me who is on his way?" The black shadow was Hearing his call, his steps immediately slowed down. Li Qingxiang couldn't help but quicken his pace, wanting to catch up with the person in front of him so that he could be a companion on the snowy night and take care of each other. But no matter how he chased him, the black figure in front of him seemed to be far away from him, always keeping more than ten meters away from him. distance.
Li Qingxiang chased him for a while, with sweat beads on his forehead and sweat on his back. He was only a few steps away from the black shadow in front of him. As I looked at it, I couldn't help but feel suspicious. Why didn't even a footwell be left on the path that the shadow walked in front of me? The wind and snow were not too light, so the front foot would not have walked through it, and the snow on the back foot would have filled up the footwell. Come on! Also, looking at the walking posture of the black figure in front of me, it seemed familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen it before.
The further he walked, the more strange Li Qingxiang felt around him, and he even felt that there was a mysterious force pulling him forward. Just when he was feeling confused and puzzled, he saw the black shadow disappearing without a trace in a flash. He couldn't help but tremble, and the panic and panic that he had felt just now was suddenly gone.
Li Qingxiang stood there in a daze, always feeling that something was wrong. He looked around in the snowy night and suddenly woke up. He was so frightened that he took a breath of cold air and asked himself: "Why am I standing here?" Did he get lost by a ghost?" It turns out that there is a fork in the road one mile before "Gushan". The road to the northeast is the way home, but now he is standing on the road leading to the neighboring counties in the northwest. At the foot of the "lonely mountain".
Li Qingxiang remembered that when he and his father passed by here six years ago, his father told him that passers-by would hide under the huge rock "Gushan" when encountering rain or snow. No matter how heavy the rain or snow was outside, the people underneath it would But it is always dry, making it an ideal refuge for passers-by. Therefore, the local people also call this huge stone on "Gushan" "Longevity Stone". (Haunted House: Please keep the reprint!)
Li Qingxiang didn't believe that there really were gods and ghosts in the world, but at this moment, his intuition told him that there seemed to be gods secretly helping him. Li Qingxiang took a few tentative steps inside in the dark, and there were sounds of "swish, swish" under his feet. When he touched it with his hand, he found a thick pile of wormwood.
As soon as Li Qingxiang lay down, his eyelids quickly sank and he fell into a state of confusion. In a daze, I suddenly saw an old man with disheveled hair, pale face, and a strange look in his eyes. He was carrying a bundle of firewood on his shoulders. He came straight to him from the snow, gently put down the firewood, and took it from the waistband of his cotton trousers. He used the fire sickle to twist the flax velvet and blew it on the firewood, instantly lighting up a bonfire.
Li Qingxiang squinted his eyes and saw the familiar black figure on the road again by the firelight. When he fixed his gaze on his face, he couldn't help but shiver, extremely frightened. I murmured in my heart, how is this possible? My father died four years ago. Is it true that, as people say, dead ghosts can take the form of humans and exist in the world? Or maybe I had already frozen to death on the way home, and came to the underworld to meet my relatives. Li Qingxiang was confused for a moment and couldn't tell whether he was in the upper world or the underworld.
Just when he was doubtful, an old call came softly to his ears: "My son, don't be afraid, I am your father, Li Jin." "You are my father?" "Yes, that's right. As a father." "You said you are my father, what proof is there to prove that you are my father?"
The old man didn't say anything. He reached out and took out a milky white jade pendant and handed it to Li Qingxiang. He took it and saw that it was the jade pendant he carefully selected from the jade shop in the county as a birthday gift to his father when his father turned sixty. On the front and back were the words "福" and " longevity". He spent a whole day and night carving it with his own hands.
"If this jade pendant can't prove that I am your father, then your nickname is 'Shuan'er'!" The old man stared at Li Qingxiang with sad eyes.
Li Qingxiang witnessed the jade pendant and the old man calling out his nickname, confirming that he was indeed his father. However, at this moment, things have changed, and he is still half-convinced: "Then let me ask you, our home is at least 120 miles away from here, how did you get here?" The father sighed longly and said: "Son, ! The world is impermanent, and dad is not willing to leave his family. But everything in the world has its destiny, and ordinary people cannot change it. When fate is over, we must separate, and we can’t separate! Although my body is separated from the human world, but But my soul is still wandering around the world, especially during the year when my son went out to work, my father has been following you, worrying about you, lest something happen to my son."
Li Qingxiang heard that his father, who had been dead for more than four years, was still worried about him in the underworld. His nose felt sore and tears overflowed from his eyes. He opened his mouth to call out "Dad" but no sound came out.
The father went on to say, "My son has been away for a year. He understands how anxious you are to get home. No matter how anxious you are, you will never have to rush through the night without seeing the light of day. Take today for example, you were passing by at noon. When 'Sunjiapu' was mentioned, it was just overcast. My father wanted to stop you from staying at the Sunjia Inn, but because of your personality, you wouldn't stay there, so I had no choice but to follow you. It was snowing harder and harder in the afternoon. Father, go ahead and come here in advance to prepare some wormwood and firewood, and then go back along the original path to bring you here… Try not to rush in the dark in the future, because ghosts are haunted at night, in case you encounter those who like to play mischief. Little devil, I will build you a ghost wall, which is what the world calls a ghost wall. The simple and easy way to break it is to urinate at the root of the wall and wash it down… Tonight's disaster has been resolved. There will be no big disasters in the future, and I will feel relieved as a father…" Finally, his father repeatedly told him to support his mother well and take good care of his wife and children, and asked him to give a message to his family. He said that he lived a good life in the underworld, with no shortage of food and clothing, so that his family should stop worrying about him.
When Li Qingxiang heard these sad words, he burst into tears. He climbed up and reached out to pull his father. Unexpectedly, his father swayed aside and said hurriedly: "My son, you absolutely can't do it. Although you and I are Father and son are separated by the world of yin and yang, so their bodies cannot touch each other. I am just a virtual body. According to the people in the world of the world, I am a ghost. Ghosts only have yin energy and no yang energy. The yin energy in my body is too heavy… " Before my father finished speaking, his figure gradually drifted away. Li Qingxiang suddenly shouted "Dad!" and suddenly woke up from the dream-like meeting. After a long time, his father's hoarse, sad, and sincere words still echoed clearly in his ears.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, Li Qingxiang dragged his tired body and finally walked into the house. The first thing he said after entering the house was to tell his family that if his father had not rescued him on the way back, he would have become a frozen ghost in the wilderness. When his family members heard his outlandish words, they all said that he lost three souls and bumped into four ghosts on the way back. This was pure nonsense in broad daylight.
After Li Qingxiang recounted the adventure that happened on the snowy night the day before yesterday from beginning to end, he also emphasized that after he woke up, he found a pile of freshly burned wood ash next to him. He could still feel the ash emitted by it when he put his hand on it. residual heat. After hearing this, the whole family was stunned.
The first thing Li Qingxiang did the next morning was to visit his father's grave with offerings and paper money.